Uncanny Immortal 21p1

Chapter 21 p1

“Thump-thump, thump-thump…”

The arrhythmic pounding of a heart, accompanied by disordered breaths and pained moans, intertwined and tangled together.

There was no swirling mist; everything was crystal clear.

Xie Qingzheng was submerged in the water, holding Mo Jiangxue in a tight embrace.

The jade-green pool water was bone-chillingly cold; the soft, boneless body felt like a burning coal upon contact.

Their bodies were pressed tightly together, and it felt as if all the coolness from her own body was being absorbed by Mo Jiangxue.

There was no need for more words. Xie Qingzheng had personally experienced the agony of the poison’s onset.

No one knew better than her that feeling of wishing for death.

When the cold poison struck, it was like being in an ice cavern. Every breath was like inhaling ice shards into the lungs. A chill seeping from the very marrow of her bones sliced at every inch of her skin.

When the heat poison struck, it was like being trapped in a furnace, her body consumed by flames. The air she breathed in and out was scorching. A burning sensation from the inside out, from head to toe, made every inch of her skin feel as if it were being seared by fire, and the blood in her veins seemed to boil along with it.

It was a feeling worse than death, yet there was no medicine, no cure. One could only grit their teeth and endure, surviving one hour at a time…

A lump formed in Xie Qingzheng’s throat, and she hugged Mo Jiangxue even tighter.

She had no time to ponder whether Mo Jiangxue had transferred her poison onto herself. She just rapidly circulated the spiritual energy in her dantian, refining it into streams of clear true qi and transferring it into the other’s body to lessen her pain.

Mo Jiangxue made no more moans, as if she were trying her utmost to endure.

She was accustomed to forbearance in front of others.

Xie Qingzheng loosened her grip slightly and saw that she was biting her lower lip hard.

Afraid she would hurt herself, Xie Qingzheng pried her mouth open with force. A deep row of teeth marks was already imprinted on her lip. It seemed that with a little more force, she would have drawn blood.

She held out her left hand to her master. “If you must bite, then bite me…”

The moment her words fell, a heart-piercing pain shot through her left palm.

The veins on her hand bulged. Xie Qingzheng’s body trembled, but she endured the pain without a sound, channeling her spiritual energy and continuing to transfer her true qi to her master.

But no matter how much true qi she transferred, it was swiftly devoured by the heat poison in Mo Jiangxue’s body.

Those wisps of true qi were like tiny droplets flowing into a vast, churning sea, disappearing in an instant.

An unknown amount of time passed. The spiritual energy in her dantian gradually depleted. Her body began to tremble slightly, and her limbs felt as if they had been soaked in vinegar, filled with a sore, weak sensation.

It seems I can’t hold on much longer…

So useless! Why can’t I hold on for just a little longer?

She had never hated her own shallow cultivation as much as she did now…

Just then, Mo Jiangxue gave her a gentle push, moving her away slightly. “That’s enough…”

Xie Qingzheng was stunned for a moment, then pressed close again. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly felt a trace of coolness from Mo Jiangxue’s body.

The heat poison has receded?

Her spirits lifted, but in the next instant, she remembered the cold poison.

Fearing the cold poison would strike next, she paid no mind to her bleeding palm, picked up Mo Jiangxue, and leaped out of the cold pool. She circulated the last dregs of spiritual energy in her dantian to dry their bodies and clothes, then flew on her sword towards Zixiao Peak, intending to seek help from the Sect Master.

She was already completely exhausted, relying solely on a thread of tenacity. She flew to the main hall of Zixiao Peak. The moment she landed, before she could even steady herself, her legs gave out, and with a thud, she collapsed in front of a woman.

The woman looked at her in surprise, then saw Mo Jiangxue in her arms. Her expression changed slightly. She brought two fingers together and tapped a point on her body.

Her body swayed, her eyes closed, and she fell to the ground…

“Cough, cough, cough…”

She heard a series of rapid coughs. She groggily opened her eyes to the sight of an unfamiliar white bed canopy.

The area of her dantian below her navel was sore and aching. The moment she regained consciousness, the pain was so intense it contorted her face.

In comparison, the pain in her left palm was nothing…

Xie Qingzheng raised her left hand and saw that her palm had been carefully bandaged with a white cloth.

She didn’t dare to circulate her qi, only taking a few deep breaths to regulate her breathing.

“Did I wake you?”

A strange yet gentle voice reached her ears, tinged with a sense of weakness.

She turned her eyes and saw a woman sitting in a wheelchair by the window, smiling at her.

The woman was wrapped in a thick, white fox-fur cloak. Her face was pale, her features gentle. She was beautiful, but her eyes held a lingering trace of melancholy and illness.

The female cultivators of the cultivation world were either cool, proud, gentle, or charming, each with their own style. But very few were like her, exuding a sense of frailness, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.

In the presence of such a woman, it felt as if even speaking loudly was a sin.

Xie Qingzheng recognized her. She got up from the bed and bowed. “Qingzheng pays her respects to the Vice Sect Master.”

The Vice Sect Master of the Xuanji Sect, Pei Shuxue.

Pei Shuxue coughed lightly as she spoke, “There’s no need for formalities… I saw that you had overexerted your qi, and your meridians were on the verge of rupturing, so I pressed your sleep acupoint… You… cough, cough, are called Qingzheng, right… Seeing you is like seeing Fuyun in her youth… Back then, I, she, and Wangqing, the three of us, often traveled together…”

She came from a family of cultivators and was originally an outstanding dual cultivator of medicine and the sword, known along with Xiao Wangqing as the “Twin Jewels of Xuanji.” But later, she was harmed by members of a demonic cult, her cultivation completely destroyed, and her legs crippled. From then on, she remained on Zixiao Peak, specializing in the way of medicine, never leaving the mountain or seeing outsiders again.

Over the years, Xiao Wangqing had traveled far and wide, trying to find a technique for limb regeneration, but without exception, they all required the person themselves to have cultivated to the Golden Core stage or above to regenerate. Otherwise, only body-snatching could possibly provide a complete body.

Such an act went against the Heavenly Dao, and righteous cultivators would never attempt it lightly.

Xie Qingzheng had heard about these things from Senior Sister Min He.

Now, seeing the Vice Sect Master in a wheelchair, her tone kind, speaking lightly of old friends, her nose couldn’t help but tingle, and an infinite sense of regret welled up in her heart.

She had once been a peerless, high-spirited favored daughter of the heavens, but now she was like a skylark with broken wings, confined to a wheelchair, confined to Zixiao Peak…

Xie Qingzheng bowed to Pei Shuxue again, thanking her for her help, then asked, “Is my master alright? I want to go see her.”

Pei Shuxue: “Wangqing is healing her. You must not disturb them… Otherwise, both of them will suffer a qi deviation.”

Xie Qingzheng: “Alright… then I will wait here.”

The Sect Master’s cultivation was profound. With her healing her master, there shouldn’t be a major problem.

Xie Qingzheng felt a little relieved, but her hands clenched unconsciously.

Pei Shuxue observed her expression and said gently, “Don’t worry too much. The most important thing now is to take care of yourself… The spiritual energy you’ve cultivated over these three years is probably all gone…”

Xie Qingzheng lowered her head and gave a self-deprecating smile. “Fortunately, I wasn’t lazy these past three years, so I had the chance to help her.”

Losing three years of cultivation was nothing. If Mo Jiangxue hadn’t saved her back then, she probably would never have had the chance to cultivate the Dao.

Pei Shuxue coughed a few times. “Jiangxue transferred the curse from your body to her own… cough, cough… With a master like her protecting you, Fuyun’s spirit in heaven should be at peace…”

Her master was indeed very good to her, but—

“A curse?” Xie Qingzheng was astonished. “What curse?”

Pei Shuxue was also a little surprised. “She… didn’t she tell you? I thought you knew… I told her three years ago… The heat and cold poison in your body is an ancient forbidden curse called ‘Soul Severing’… This curse is extremely insidious. When it acts up, it causes alternating heat and cold, and it will also cause one’s cultivation to dissipate bit by bit. There is no cure for it in this world, unless… cough, cough, cough, cough!”

She spoke weakly, as if she couldn’t speak for too long without a coughing fit.

Xie Qingzheng hurried to the table and, with trembling hands, poured a cup of warm tea and handed it to her. “Vice Sect Master, no rush. Please, take your time.”

In truth, she was dying of anxiety! She wished the Vice Sect Master would quickly tell her, unless what?

Pei Shuxue: “Unless… cough, cough… unless the person who cast the curse dies, or someone helps to transfer it to themselves. Otherwise, the cursed person will surely die…”

Xie Qingzheng: “Then what about the person who helps transfer the curse? What will happen to them in the end? Will their life be in danger?”

Pei Shuxue did not answer immediately, a look of hesitation on her face.

Xie Qingzheng’s heart leaped into her throat. She was so anxious her eyes blurred with tears, but she couldn’t bear to rush a patient who was coughing her lungs out. She could only grit her teeth and wait patiently for Pei Shuxue to continue, bit by bit.

Pei Shuxue looked at her, shook her head slightly, and continued, “Four years ago, she transferred the curse from your body to her own and then forcefully suppressed it. But, these past three years… cough, cough, cough… she was in the Sword Pavilion, removing the malevolent energy from the sword, which consumed a great deal of her cultivation. The curse backlashed, and its attacks have become more severe…”

When Xie Qingzheng came out of the guest room, she happened to run into Min He, who came to tell her that the healing was over and she could go to the quiet room to visit.

She rubbed her eyes and followed Senior Sister Min He to the quiet room where Mo Jiangxue was.

Min He gently patted her shoulder. “Junior Sister, you stand guard here. I’ll go check on my master.”

There were no idle people on Zixiao Peak. After Pei Shuxue’s legs were crippled, she disliked seeing people, so Xiao Wangqing had dismissed all the handymen and maids on Zixiao Peak, leaving only their personal disciples to care for them.

Xiao Wangqing had taken two personal disciples, Shui Yan and Min He; Pei Shuxue had taken one, Suwen.

The entire Zixiao Peak only had three more people than Mo Jiangxue’s Ethereal Peak.

Xie Qingzheng moved a round stool and sat by the bed, looking at the person sleeping soundly on it.

Only now did she have the time to look at her master closely.

Brows like smoke, temples like clouds, skin like snow, eyes tightly closed, lips pale…

They hadn’t seen each other for three years, and she looked a little more haggard. Her brows were slightly furrowed, as if she were worrying about something in her dreams.

Usually, she always had a calm and unruffled appearance. It was rare to see her show a trace of fatigue, like a thin snowflake fluttering down from the ethereal mountain peak, landing lightly in one’s palm, about to melt at any moment.

A wave of tenderness and pity rose in her heart. Xie Qingzheng reached out, wanting to smooth the frown on Mo Jiangxue’s brow.

But the moment her fingertips were about to touch her face, she felt it was too presumptuous and slowly withdrew her hand.

Pei Shuxue’s words echoed in her mind:

“The Soul Severing curse is too insidious. Thirty years ago, there was an evil cultivator in the cultivation world who could use this evil art. He was jointly annihilated by the righteous path. I thought it had long been lost, but I never expected someone in this world could still use it…”

“There are three ways to break the curse: with medicine; the death of the caster; or, third, by transferring it…”

“There is no medicine in this world that can break the Soul Severing curse. And right now, we can’t find the person who cast it. Jiangxue probably guessed long ago that it was a curse, so she transferred it to herself…”

“Each time the poison curse acts up, the poison will deepen, and her cultivation will also be reduced by a fraction… During this period, no matter how much spiritual energy she refines, it will be nullified by the curse… If this continues, in at most ten years, her cultivation will be completely gone, and I’m afraid her life will also be in danger…”

Gratitude, pity, heartache, sorrow, and a desperate wish to take her place—all sorts of emotions intertwined. Tears rolled down her cheeks like broken strings of pearls.

A thick sense of grief rose from the bottom of her heart. Her tear-filled eyes blurred her vision, and the scene from four years ago reappeared in her mind:

Under the moonlight, by the turquoise water, Mo Jiangxue stood quietly on a bamboo branch, raised a hand to wipe a trace of blood from her lips, and said nothing, just looked at her.

That night, she had thought her chronic illness was cured, that she would no longer have to suffer such inhuman torment.

That night, she had chatted with her with great interest, talking about severing worldly ties and visiting immortal mountains, and had even given herself a name, as if she had been reborn.

That night, the other had humbled herself, apologized to her formally, and taught her how to remove the poison with great solemnity.

No wonder her face was as pale as paper that day. No wonder she was always in seclusion, healing, that year…

It turned out it wasn’t a cure at all, just that someone had silently borne that suffering for her.

Her years of ease and happiness, her years of living like a normal person, and even her ability to embark on the path of cultivation, were all bought with Mo Jiangxue’s pain.

Xie Qingzheng raised her right hand and covered her eyes tightly, letting the tears soak her palm.

“Are you mourning for me?”

The moment Mo Jiangxue opened her eyes, she heard the very low sound of sobbing.

Master and disciple hadn’t spoken for three years, and the first thing she said was such an inauspicious thing. Xie Qingzheng’s heart ached. She wiped the tears from her face and said with a sob, “How could you… curse yourself like that…”

Mo Jiangxue sat up and leaned against the head of the bed, her expression as calm as an ancient well. “Then why are you crying so hard?”

Xie Qingzheng clenched her teeth, swallowed her sobs, and replied with a trembling voice, “You’re asking even though you know…”

She saw Mo Jiangxue’s pale lips, held back her tears, went to the table to pour a cup of tea, and handed it to her.

After drinking the tea, Mo Jiangxue looked at Xie Qingzheng. “Give me your hand.”

Xie Qingzheng obediently held out her hand.

Three ice-cold fingers rested on her wrist pulse, probing the state of her cultivation in her dantian.

Almost all the cultivation she had gained in these three years had been refined into true qi and transferred to her master to detoxify her.

Xie Qingzheng lowered her head and said softly, “I’ll cultivate it back.”

Mo Jiangxue said nothing, her eyes studying Xie Qingzheng’s face, just as Xie Qingzheng had studied her while she was asleep. Her gaze swept over her long, narrow brows, her red eyes…

They hadn’t seen each other for three years, and she had grown much taller. Her tall, straight posture was like bamboo or pine. The naive innocence of her youth was gone from her eyes, replaced by a sense of calm, and her demeanor had become more elegant.

Mo Jiangxue raised her hand, and her cool fingertips tapped the cinnabar mark between her brows. “You’ve grown up.”

Her tone was light and understated.

But Xie Qingzheng’s heart trembled slightly.

She withdrew her hand, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed with a solemn expression.

The moment Mo Jiangxue saw her like this, she knew what she was about to do. She closed her eyes, and her thin lips parted, mercilessly spitting out three words: “Stop chattering.”

Xie Qingzheng’s lips parted, about to speak. Hearing these three words and seeing Mo Jiangxue’s expression, she immediately closed her mouth and swallowed her long speech.

“Stand up and speak.” Mo Jiangxue opened her eyes and added coolly, “Limited to ten characters.”

Xie Qingzheng didn’t dare to disobey. She stood up, silently rehearsed the words in her mind, counted on her fingers, and then said, “Master, my disaster, my tribulation, let me bear it myself.”

Mo Jiangxue seemed to have already guessed she would say these things. Without thinking, she replied calmly, “With the curse transferred to me, I can at least last for ten years.”

Not everyone had the ability to set up a barrier and array like the one in Wen Family Village to suppress the Soul Severing curse. But she could at least rely on her own cultivation to temporarily suppress the heat and cold poison, and she would at least have ten years to find a way to break the curse.